


Whispers In Our Ears

by celtic7irish



Series: Tony Stark Bingo 2019 [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asgardians - Freeform, Gen, Mind Control, Only a little scary, Snippet, This battle is way too easy, We're never telling Nat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 18:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20232226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/celtic7irish/pseuds/celtic7irish
Summary: Lorelei is in town, and does not appreciate the Avengers getting in her way.





	Whispers In Our Ears

**Author's Note:**

> For Tony Stark Bingo Square R1: Mind control or Brainwashing

Clint held his hand out in a peaceable gesture. His other hand was busy clutching his leg, which was pinned underneath the remnants of a pillar from the courthouse portico. His back was braced against sharp, broken stone that dug uncomfortably into his spine. “You don’t have to do this,” he pleaded softly, talking to their attacker but keeping his eyes on the man in front of him.

Tony Stark’s hand was trembling where it was held up, the glove’s repulsor beam glowing bright and deadly. Clint had seen what that concussive blast could do to a building. He really didn’t want to see what it could do to an unprotected human body.

“Oh, I think he does,” the redhead purred, one hand casually dragging along Tony’s shoulder and back as she walked behind him. She peered at them over Tony’s shoulder with a self-satisfied smirk. “You Avengers have been a thorn in my side long enough.”

“I don’t recall us havin’ anythin’ to do with you, lady,” Clint’s fellow sniper growled, moving the Asgardian’s attention to him. “You’re the one that came here and started causin’ a ruckus.”

Lorelei’s face twisted briefly into an ugly scowl, detracting from her almost inhumanly beautiful face. Clint wondered if the beauty was also a part of her spell, which only seemed to work on men. Unfortunately, Natasha was currently knocked unconscious and unable to come to their aid. And the rest of the Avengers were all male.

Tony was staring at them, not firing, but not lowering his arm, either. Clint didn’t know why Tony hadn’t fired yet, and it appeared that Lorelei didn’t either, because she gripped Tony’s chin firmly, turning him to face her, nails digging sharply into his face. “Kill them for me, won’t you?” she asked sweetly, her tone belied by the malice in her eyes.

Tony frowned uncertainly. “I’d be happy to,” he said, “but I can’t.”

The redhead’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, you can’t?” she demanded impatiently.

Barnes tried to take advantage of her distraction, but he hadn’t gotten more than two steps before Lorelei turned her attention to him. “Don’t move,” she ordered, and Barnes froze, his eyes narrowing. Clint huffed a laugh; she hadn’t bothered to try and overpower his will, pinned as he was. He wasn’t going anywhere, and his words were falling on deaf ears, anyhow. Tony had resisted her for a few precious minutes, ordering Jarvis to basically ignore anything he said. 

Which should mean that Tony couldn’t attack them, but Clint knew better. Tony had to be able to fight even if he lost contact with Jarvis. But without power, Tony was trapped in a suit that was little more than dead weight. It was a wonder he was standing, much less holding up his arm. Lorelei’s powers were impressive.

“Look, you’re not going to get what you want,” Clint told her at last. “His armor’s shut down. Even if he could charge it and fire it, he can’t aim it. So how about you just let him go?”

Lorelei considered this, her head tipped to the side, then gave Clint a slow, foreboding smile, her hand sliding away from Tony’s face. Almost immediately, the genius collapsed into a crumpled heap, the armor weighing down his motions. “You have a point, archer,” she purred, and Clint could feel the edges of her power in his mind, like warm tendrils. _Listen to her. She’s beautiful. She’s everything you want. You want to make her happy, right? You want whatever she wants._

Clint shuddered, shaking off the cobwebs that were trying to ensnare him. Tony had been able to resist her long enough to shut Jarvis down. He had only lost when Lorelei had touched him. Clint could fight this. It wasn’t like the mind stone, wasn’t something that locked himself inside himself, that warped his reality. He knew she was a bad person; it just seemed irrelevant, unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

Green eyes narrowed in annoyance, then swung over to the third person in the room. “And what about you?” she asked. “Will you help me?” 

Barnes swallowed hard, swaying where he stood. He didn’t seem able to move away from Lorelei, who stalked towards him with a wicked smile. “You’re so strong,” she murmured. “But also lonely.” Her hand reached up to touch the Soldier’s cheek, and Barnes flinched away from her. Her smile didn’t waver. “Don’t resist me,” she murmured. “Do this one tiny little favor for me, just a small thing, really, and then we can go away. I need you.” She paused dramatically, and Clint resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “But these two men don’t want you to have me.”

“Shall I take care of them for you, then?” Barnes asked, pulling a gun from its holster and aiming it squarely at Clint’s head. _Shit_.

“Barnes,” Clint tried, keeping the Soldier’s attention on him - and away from Tony, who was slowly reaching for the manual releases on his armor, his face a study in concentration. Most of Lorelei’s focus was on Barnes right now, but there was enough left over to tug at Clint’s consciousness - and probably Tony’s - and make them hesitant to attack her. Not that Clint could, even if he wanted to, pinned down as he was.

The hammer clicked on Barnes’ gun, and Clint met his eyes, pulling his shoulders back. If he was going to die, it wasn’t going to be cringing in the corner, defenseless and afraid.

“Do it,” Lorelei ordered, and Barnes’ finger spasmed on the trigger. Clint flinched, but heard only a click. He blinked his eyes open incredulously. Barnes _never_ let himself run out of ammo. He should have had a full chamber. Blue eyes met grey, and Clint could see the truth in them. They’d been forewarned about Lorelei’s power over men, over their wills. And just as Tony had ordered Jarvis to _shut him down_, Barnes had emptied his weapons, making them little more than worthless hunks of metal.

He huffed a laugh, ignoring the slightly hysterical edge to it as Lorelei’s attention swung back to him. “Out of ammo?” he choked out. “You know, I hear that’s a problem for centenarians.” He wasn’t just talking about Bucky, and Lorelei must have sensed it, because her face twisted with rage and she released Barnes, drawing her sword and stalking towards him.

“I will destroy you myself,” she hissed, “if these supposed warriors are going to be weak, useless cowards.”

Less than a second later, there was a loud noise, and Lorelei went flying, crashing into the rubble that was all that was left of the front wall. “Yeah, well, these weak, useless cowards aren’t stupid,” Tony muttered, climbing to his feet, clad only in his undersuit and one gauntlet, which was hooked directly to the arc reactor in his chest. “If you’re unconscious, you can’t talk. If you can’t talk, you can’t control us.”

Barnes didn’t say anything, just stalked over to her, pulling out the control collar and snapping it around the unconscious Asgardian’s neck with a satisfying click.

Tony picked his way around the rubble over to Clint. “You okay there, Birdbrain?” he asked lightly, though his expression was tight with concern as he took in the archer, pinned to the ground in a pile of rubble.

Clint gave him a tired smile and a thumbs up. “I’m not dead,” he said cheerfully. Which, really, at the end of the day, that was all that mattered, right? He wasn’t dead, and he probably wasn’t as badly injured as it felt at the moment. He could still feel his leg, after all, which he’d been told was usually a good thing (he wasn’t sure he believed that right now, though).

“Barnes, come help me with this,” Tony called. “I can’t bring Jarvis back online until I get back to the Tower and do a manual override, so you’ll have to do some of the heavy lifting.”

As Barnes strode over to them, grumbling but at least making himself useful in digging Clint out from the rubble, Clint found himself searching their eyes. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, exactly - Lorelei’s powers didn’t make their eyes change, didn’t make them glow an eerie, otherworldly blue - but when warm brown and cool grey eyes met his in return, Clint found himself relaxing. 

Barnes removed the remains of the column from Clint’s legs, and the archer winced. Tony checked him over, making sure he could move the leg and wiggle his toes. It hurt, but more like a really bad sprain than anything broken. Tony dragged over one of his armor’s boots and closed it around Clint’s foot and ankle. The pressure both hurt and felt nice at the same time. If nothing else, it should keep it from getting jostled.

Once he was more or less standing, one arm slung over Tony’s shoulder for balance, Barnes moved away, muttering under his breath in Russian as he started digging them out. Clint and Tony watched him for several minutes before Clint asked, “So we’re never telling Nat about this, right?”

“_Nyet_.”

“Hell no. I’d never hear the end of it.”

“Cool. Just checking.”


End file.
